Fall of Grace
by The Varajan
Summary: And from the gaggle of barbaric Lizardfolk emerged two human youths, wild as their keepers. This was not supposed to happen, it was my right to watch my children grow, not to see them grown by monsters. But now, as the sun sets I am glad they did.


Annette and her younger brother Gunter were the greatest heroes ever to set foot in the marshy lands of Gracefalls. Together they had defended their sleepy little hamlet from an army of Ogres astride their majestic steeds with nothing more than Gunter's magical lance and Annette's powerful spells. The Ogres were routed, their goblin servants destroyed and the town saved. Days later they met the well known adventurers of Cabala led by the mighty cavalier Azrael astride his mega raptor and his skilled companions: Elisabeth the witch, Antok the half orc druid and Wikkus the kobold ranger. At their side they stopped the invasion of the orcish armies against the dwarven fortification of "Iron Wall" and then bid each other farewell for the duties of heroes never end. With gusto they ended the undead incursions in the area and defeated score after scores of vampires and liches. Months passed and again crossed paths with their old friends and almost single handedly annihilated the great Lich Dragon Morgoth all whilst saving the heroes who had engaged the godly abomination saving the land and perhaps the world as well, for the evil of the Lich Dragon knew no bounds.

But today was different, today they were charged with patrolling around the hamlet collecting firewood by their noble father.

Annette and Gunter were twelve and eleven years old respectively and with the most vivid imaginations you'd ever see.

"My lady, perhaps we should visit Hans the Baker for his delicious treats. Surely he'd be happy to reward our bravery in defeating Morgoth"

"No Sir Gunther, heroes should never ask for reward for their deeds. Doing the right thing is its own reward"

"But I'm hungry"

"Gah! Your boundless appetite is unbecoming of a Knight of the Golden Dragons"

"Silver Dragons"

"My apologies, Silver Dragons. But still, its unbecoming"

"What does that mean, my lady?"

"It means that…it's not proper" answered Annete as she stamped her magical elvish staff into the ground, which looked very much like a frail piece of wood from the nearby marsh. But it was most certainly a magical staff that glowed with power unimaginable. It was just that the elves made staffs that way in order to make them more discreet. Very clever, those elves.

Gunter pulled his father's small buckler shield onto his arm (which fit him like a moderately large shield on his tiny frame) and adjusted his grip on his sword.

"Want to trade places?" he asked his older sister as his hands tired of carrying his wooden sword ever at the ready in case of an attack.

"Sure" answered Annette as she put her little pile of logs down and strapped his shield across her narrow back and shoved his sword in her little dress' pocket.

"Is it ok for a sorcerer to switch to being a knight and a knight to a sorcerer?" asked Gunter as he shoved the powerful staff in the space between his belt and his pants and picked up his pile again.

"I don't see why not Mage Gunter" answered the sister as she imagined a knight's horse following her. "Knight's say 'Huzzah!' when they win a battle right?" she added as she rolled her eyes up as if the answer was written in the sky.

"Father says so" he answered as he imagined himself with a billowing red robe lined with runes and symbols.

The young boy looked at his sister curiously when she kicked forward and stomped her worn boot on the ground.

"Huzzah!" she yelled

"What's that for?" asked her younger brother.

"I just stomped a Kobold!" she proclaimed rightly.

"I don't think Wikkus would be happy about that" he warned cautiously.

"I wouldn't be mad if Wikkus stomped a ruffian human, Mage Gunter"

"Good point Sir Annette"

The little pair walked all the way back home they continued to discuss the nuances of the adventurers of Azrael's group. If perhaps Elisabeth the witch and he were to be married someday. Or if Antok smelled only half as bad as an orc did because of his parentage and if Wikkus was a dumb as Kobolds were supposed to be.

By all historic accounts Antok did not have a stench worth mentioning, Elisabeth and Azrael were not married, yet, and Wikkus was not at all unintelligent. But he was the butt of every single joke the party made throughout the years until they reached the Salhala Desert and he left to join (and subsequently lead) the local sand tribes. He was transformed at their temple into the Avatar of Kurtulmak and stood as tall as an Ogre.

He was still the butt of jokes, albeit nervously uttered ones however the obscenely powerful creature took them in good nature. All while shouldering a great sword the size of a wagon.

After they reached the quaint little cottage they set down the logs where they always did and knocked on the door to their home as to not disturb mother and father (it was a large cottage that had only one room and no privacy, their parents had told them to knock on the door whenever they left for an extended period of time, for what reason they would want to privacy, neither of them could imagine).

Their father's beaming face poked out of the door.

"Hello there! You all finished?" he asked as he leaned against the doorframe.

"Yes my lord" said both of his children in unison.

The man smiled tenderly at his two kids, they had been a serious blessing. He wished he knew from which God so he could thank him or her.

"Father, may we go to the marsh to patrol?" asked Annette with hopeful eyes.

The man thought very hard for a moment, she and Gunter had never disobeyed him but the swamps were dangerous. Deeper into the bogs there were creatures but seldom would they stray too far from their dwellings. Gracefalls was not a chaotic region plagued by goblinoids or other manner of malicious beings. He had expressively forbidden either of them from approaching the swamps which they were boundlessly curious about.

He had an idea.

"Take your cousin with you" he said to both of them.

Both of them groaned collectively.

"Do we have to Father? Hans is just a dumb jerk" protested Annette with the foulest words in her vocabulary.

"Yes but I'd feel better if you had an adult with you. Now go, he'll keep you out of trouble" he said swatting them both on the buttocks as he sent them off.

Hopefully the scariest thing they would see on the trails would be a lazy crocodile.

Annette and Gunter found it very, very hard to be a knight and a wizard when Hans brought his girlfriend with them to the swamp trail.

"Disgusting, both of them" whispered Annette to the mighty wizard who was her brother as she adjusted the straps on her dress as if she were adjusting the breastplate of her armor.

"I agree" answered Gunter as he poked his staff about angrily as he made a wet sound he imagined casting a firebolt at a Bugbear.

"Hans stop!" giggled the young woman as he groped her and licked at her neck.

Annette rolled her eyes as Gunter looked back with interest. Tapping him on the head with her magical lightning sword before swatting at a buzzing bug as they crossed a rickety bridge "That's how a knight **shouldn't** treat his lady love" she rasped angrily.

"Oh, I'm not knight I'm a rogue" answered Hans as he groped his girlfriend's breasts before pushing her against the rails.

Annette fumed bitterly, she wondered if father treated mother that way when they were children. Mother always said that men and women were partners and a man had to treat his wife with the utmost affection and respect. And these interactions between Hands and his current girlfriend did not confirm that.

Looking out the swampy waters she and Gunter quietly tried to ignore the whispering and touching between the two horny adolescents.

"Sir Annette look" said Gunter as she pointed to a little line of smoke coming from far down the swamp's banks.

Certainly smoke from a campfire. Just a little but enough for a camp.

Interest piqued Annette's curiosity, she looked at her younger brother and she could see her interest reflected in his. This could be a proper quest! Both children had done much over their glorious careers as heroes. But at a subconscious level they both knew it was all pretend, but exploring a swamp and a mysterious fire could be something true. The prospect of a real adventure excited them.

Azrael had begun his grand career doing as much, why not them too?

Half minding the teenagers Annette helped her younger brother down the side bank of the bridge and to the muddy shores of the quiet and still waters of the river. She rolled her eyes again as Hans and the girlfriend began to follow. Emboldened by going off trail Hans led her by the hand.

How hard it was to focus on an adventure with these two fools in front of them leading the way, thought Annette.

"Hans, maybe we should go back we don't know whose fire that is" warned his voluptuous girl as she struggled to free her skirt from a thorny plant.

"Come my pet, the only thing out here are trappers. Let's just have a look-see" he answered excitedly as he glanced out of little clearings in the canopy to follow the smoke trail.

Never once did he look back to make a mental note of the trail back to the rickety bridge or the many gnarled trees as they wandered further into the swamps. Annette gripped her wooden sword but also stood close to her younger brother, minding where he stepped.

She felt uneasy, the child felt as though she had entered someone else's house uninvited. As she did so she recalled something father had said long ago when they had been discussing how their cottage was their castle and what they could do if they were accosted by the armies of orcs that surely were about Gracefalls awaiting Gunter and Annette to sleep in order to take them by surprise.

_If a stranger were to enter our home uninvited, rummage through our things and come near either of you. I would kill them in a heartbeat._

The sun had just begun to fall after noon and the daylight was still strong. No longer was the swampy area recognizable as it was hours ago. It was more tropical and leafy, mangroves grew in oppressive channels and there was a strong smell of marsh algae.

No matter how much his girlfriend protested, Hans kept going as she followed her lover nervously. She was too much of a coward to simply turn around and go back on her own.

Annette felt more and more at ease the deeper she went into the swamp and the more her father's comment faded from her mind. The soothing feeling was shared by her younger brother. It was an amazing thing to travel to an unknown place and see plants and animals she had never seen before. Well, plants and bugs she had never seen before as well as the odd catfish here and there. But aside from angry mosquitoes they were not assailed by anything else. The swamp felt like an exciting if safe place.

"Look, the camp's just up ahead" grunted Hans as he pulled his foot from the thousandth pool of mud he just never seemed able to avoid.

Running up the little muddy hill they came upon an earthy clearing with deeply stamped mud. Cleary it was a site that saw much traffic. Arranged in half circle were a slew of little, vine-woven huts that could easily be taken apart, around them many little stone pots and wooden bowls, hanging from the huts were many hook lines and fishing rods. The inside of the huts were stuffed with matted mangrove leaves.

"Look at this" began Hans as he strutted up to the huts to peek inside them.

"Who do you think lives here?" asked the girlfriend as she poked about knocking down carefully arranged tools around the huts.

"Don't know" exclaimed Hans as he took a flaming log from the fire as he eyed the huts.

"What are you doing Hans?" asked Annette, her eyes narrowing in anger.

"Just making the fire a little bigger" he answered as he approached the first hut.

"You can't do that! This belongs to someone" protested Gunter as he pointed at him with his staff as if somehow a magical barrier would be erected between the little hut and his older cousin.

"Oh shut it" retorted Hans as he held out the torch for the hut to catch fire.

As he did so he heard a squeaking moaning sound clack from the hut. He pulled back his torch, taken aback by how loud the sound was.

"What's this?" he asked to himself as he poked his head into the hut before pulling it out just as quickly and falling on his buttocks.

"What the hell!" he exclaimed as he stood back up again holding his torch like a sword.

"What? What?" asked Annette as she looked about nervously, she felt they had to leave, right now.

"It's like a crocodile, but different" he said as he tasted the words before shoving the fire into the hut which was met with a chorus of the moaning quack sounds.

"HANS, STOP THAT!" screamed Annette as she found herself frozen to the ground. Her heart hammered in her chest as she fought to move, she was scared and she didn't know what to do.

The torch was shoved out of the hut by the little crocodile things and the chorus got louder before silencing altogether. An eerie silence replaced the shriek of Hans' girlfriend who pointed, mouth agape and in horror of what stood in a little mound a leap away from the camp.

It was a large creature which stood erect on its two legs, a monstrous cross between a man and a crocodile. Menacingly, it handled a flat but well worn piece of wood which on its edges stood jagged edges of obsidian tethered to the wood by thin vines. The beast's face protruded forward, its eyes locked on Hans' own, unwavering.

In a blur of brutality the beast loped forward like a stampede and swung its primitive blade diagonally across Hans' chest which exploded as the black teeth of the weapon scrapped across his abdomen taking guts and bone with the momentum of the swing. His body was flung into the water after the brutal blow and in response to the assailment more of the monsters appeared from the swamp as they seemed to have caught up to the attacker and proceeded to converge upon the woman. Wide eyed and with a scream in her throat the screeched as the crocodilian creatures tore her clothing apart and pushing her naked body into the mud where one of the creatures speared her through the breast and straight through the heart.

Like a pig the monsters dragged her body to a patch of leaves and proceeded to gut her in short order.

The monsters loped onto the camp in number as they surveyed the small mischief Hans had done and of course they called to the little ones which came running out of the nests to their caretakers. The creature that had killed Hans strode to Annette and Gunter menacingly and gazed at them with an alien expression. It surveyed both of the human children which were utterly dwarfed by its stature and mass.

While the monster that approached them was not the largest of the lot, it was most certainly the scariest. The few of its ilk that approached it backed off as it glanced at them with its golden reptilian eyes.

It seemed to sniff at them curiously while never lowering its crude blade now stained with Hans' blood and its teeth marred by little chunks of flesh that yet hung to them.

Gunter and Annette both held their hands in a vice grip of terror, neither of them were capable of thought or action as the behemoth stood before them. All of their bravery and experience in dealing with imaginary monsters had evaporated and they stared at the beast with abject visages of horror and pathetic little whimpers escaped their agape mouths. Neither of them realized they had both pissed themselves.

Both were held hostage by the beast's golden eyes and stood silently. They failed to notice the creature's fellows disassembling the huts and carrying off all of their belongings with a tactical ease, indeed they failed to be aware of the world around them.

With the last of the beasts, two of which awaited the marauder to move (as it had been staring at the two children for a little over five minutes) it hissed at them. And both respectfully withdrew to catch up, leaving the barbarian with the children.

The beast crouched quietly before the kids and looked deeply into their eyes, never once breaking eye contact. Its muscles tensed lightly as it seemed to become progressively more hateful before a thought dawned on it and the creature relaxed.

It understood that the two hatchlings not budging and not breaking eye contact was not a challenge, but a reaction to fear. How curious humans are.

Gazing at the path that the two hatchlings had come from it looked back down at them curiously. It clicked its jaw in thought before it snapped its two powerful claws around the ankles of the children as it fastened its blade on its back and carried them off like hunted game.

A single phrase sang through Annette's mind, her mind struggled with it as if she had forgotten how to speak Common in her fear.

_Lizardfolk_

Neither child could utter a sound as they were carried off. Although their minds were blank, they felt something fall from their hearts as the beast took them. A powerful breeze blew through the marsh channel taking the smell of the orchards and the fields with it as they were spirited away.


End file.
